First Trip to ER and Hospital Stay

We were home for one night and then on Thursday morning things started changing.  Harper would not nurse at all and scream, screamed all morning long.  I decided to take her temperature and it was 100.3 rectally.  My mom and I didn't know what was going on.  The pediatricians office just happened to call to schedule her one week appointment and I happened to mention what was going on and the nurse talked to the doctor and she had me check her temperature again while she was on the phone and it was still reading 100.2. So the doctor told us to go ahead and take her to Arkansas Children's Hospital Emergency Room because they didn't want us to wait until the afternoon appointment the doctor's office had.  They took us back immediately since Harper was only three days old.  They worked her up and all the doctor's came in and started doing a sepsis work up, which included blood draws, urine cultures, and a lumbar puncture to rule out an infection of some kind.  When her blood work came back her bilirubin levels were high along with her sodium levels, indicating she was jaundiced and dehydrated.  They started fluids on her and I had to go pump since she wasn't nursing.  After letting the fluids go in and starting some routine antibiotics they drew labs again to see if her sodium had come down at all.  It didn't budge so that sent us into the NICU instead of just a regular room in the hospital.  They wanted to be able to monitor her electrolytes a little closer.  We knew we would be there for three days or until the cultures ruled out everything.

We didn't get up into a NICU room until about eight o'clock pm and because Harper was considered a dirty baby (meaning she had been home and exposed to things) she couldn't be in with all the other babies so we had a private room which I was very grateful for but it was an Exit room so the lights had to stay on and a path cleared to the Exit door.  It was kind of humorous especially if you know me and I have to have a dark quiet place to sleep which was exactly opposite of what was there.  They continued to monitor Harper and started phototherapy immediately to get her bilirubin levels to come down.  Dr. Arrington, an older attending physician, was on call that night and was wonderful and we had a great long term nurse Charlene that admitted Harper into the NICU.  Harper was given an NG tube so they could feed her through it and so she could still nurse at some point.  The ER nurse, Shelly, got a great IV that lasted the entire hospital stay which is unheard of and I was so thankful.  She got poked enough for all the labs she needed every day.  By Friday, her bilirubin had come down and her sodium had dropped too which was good news.  A wonderful lactation consultant came by several times on Friday to monitor  Harper nursing and to see if her tongue tie was causing a problem with her eating and she felt it was so the doctors ordered an ENT consult.  They came up around 7 pm on Friday evening after an OR case and they decided to clip her tied tongue.  It took literally two minutes and she was fine afterwards.  It made a HUGE difference.  The rest of the weekend was really monitoring her feeds and wet diapers and waiting for the culture results.  The doctors mentioned us going home on Monday but on Sunday when they rounded, Michael and I had our speech ready to go, with us trying to get out of there since basically I was doing all of her nursing care and I know what to look for if things got bad again.  We promised to get into the pediatricians office on Monday and they drew one more lab to make sure everything was still good and then they discharged us on Sunday afternoon at 4pm.  We couldn't wait to get home and be under one roof again with Eden.  So for Harper all the little things added up to get her admitted to the NICU: her ABO incompatibility (I'm O negative and both girls are A positive blood type) which causes the jaundice and her tongue tie which prevented her from eating leading to dehydration and fever.

On Monday we got into the pediatricians office and they weighed her and her weight was 9 lb. 2 oz and he said her coloring looked so good that he wasn't even going to stick her again for a lab because of all she had been through.  Eden was jaundiced pretty bad when she was born but her pediatrician in Nashville had us come in everyday to check her bilirubin levels and then we were given the phototherapy blanket for at home use which helped break down the bilirubin.  Harper never even looked really orange compared to how orange Eden got with it but I wonder if it has to do her length and weight.  Who knows?  All is well now=)

Harper taking her first bottle in the ER.

Harper sunbathing under the phototherapy lights.

Tummy time on Friday late afternoon after the bilirubin levels had come down some.

You can see where Shelly got the IV.  It was right in the crook of her elbow which wasn't fun for Harper but it lasted.

Harper getting holding time from us both=) 

Harper LOVES to have her hands up by her face.

Harper's NICU equipment and bed for three nights and four days.  Notice the Exit door that could not be blocked.

Harper ready to leave the hospital.  YEA!!!!